Junk food ad ban could save 120,000 kids from obesity

A BAN on junk food adverts before the TV watershed of 9pm could lead to 120,000 fewer overweight and obese children in Britain, says a study.

Researchers say children eat an extra 14 calories for every minute of junk food advertising they see.

If they saw none at all they would eat an average 9.1 fewer calories a day, says the study led by Cambridge University.

This small amount would add up over time and reduce the nation’s child obesity problem by 4.6 per cent.

Obese children are five times as likely to become obese adults and looking at the related diseases they could go on to have, from cancer to heart disease, the researchers say that a junk food advert ban could save the £7.4 billion in treatment, care and lost productivity

The Government has already committed to a 9pm watershed for TV ads promoting fatty, sugary and salty food, planned to come into force by 2022.

Dr Oliver Mytton, study coauthor, said: ‘Our analysis shows introducing a 9pm watershed on unhealthy TV food advertising can make a valuable contribution to protecting the future health of all children in the UK and help level up the health of children from less affluent backgrounds.’ In England, a third of children aged ten and 11 are overweight or obese and the study suggests as many as one in 20 became so because of junk food advertising.

Each child sees an average of more than two television adverts for unhealthy food per day, and almost three-quarters of the adverts they view are between 5.30am and 9pm.

A watershed would save those aged five to 17 from seeing 1.5 junk food adverts a day on average, researchers worked out. That would potentially reduce the proportion of those children that are obese by 4.6 per cent, or 40,000 fewer children, according to the study published in the journal PLOS Medicine.

It could also cut the number of overweight but not obese children by 80,000.

Evidence suggests children eat more after viewing junk food ads, and do not cut back at mealtimes to make up for it.

Time spent watching adverts was based on evidence from a study asking children to press a button every time they entered a room with a television in it.

Calories eaten as a result were based on previous evidence, and the consequences for health based on NHS figures for obesity-related conditions.

Caroline Cerny of the Obesity

Health Alliance said: ‘There is no doubt our day-to-day choices are influenced by the advertisements we are subjected to.

‘A 9pm watershed will stop junk food adverts dominating our TV screens, and in turn, will have a huge impact on children’s health.’

A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care said yesterday: ‘As part of our ambitious obesity strategy, we will introduce a 9pm watershed on TV for advertisements for products high in fat, sugar and salt, and will consult shortly on how we can go further to protect children online.’

Other proposals are likely to include compulsory calorie counts on restaurant and takeaway menus.

‘Dominating our TV screens’